Biz Briefs

‘World Consumer Rights Day’

A team of officials from the Sri Lanka Retailers’ Association (SLRA) met the Chairman and top officials of the Consumer Affairs Authority (CAA) recently to promote ‘World Consumer Rights Day’ which will be held on Tuesday, March 15 and ‘National Consumer Rewards Week’ from March 14-20, organised by the CAA.

The SLRA in keeping with its motto ‘Connecting Retailers to Create Value for Consumers’ is supported by leading retailers, Abans, Keells Super, Cargills Food City, Laugfs, Healthguard, Swarnamahal Jewellers, No Limit, Cool Planet, DSI and Hameedia.

Maldives Education Fair

Over 30 leading institutes from Sri Lanka will participate in the Maldives International Education and Career Expo from April 21-23 in Male. It is the only exhibition which focuses on the education sector in the Maldives and will be patronised by students who wish to further their education in Sri Lanka or overseas.

Maldives International Education and Career Expo 2016 is a central platform for students to pursue their education. There will be over 50 stalls informing the public of various courses, student programs, higher education options and job opportunities. Institutes and universities from Malaysia, Australia, UK, USA, Sri Lanka, India, Singapore and from the Maldives will participate..

Pro Food/Pro Pack & Agbiz 2016

Pro Food/Pro Pack & Agbiz 2016, a food, agriculture and packaging exhibition will be held for the 15th consecutive year from August 12-14 at the Sirimavo Bandaranaike Memorial Exhibition Hall, organised by the Sri Lanka Food Processors Association with Lanka Exhibition and Conference Services.

It will be held under the theme ‘From the farm to the kitchen’ denoting the entire chain of the food industry. The highlight at this year’s expo are the two pavilions from the largest global players in the industry - India and China. Over 80 companies from India and China will participate. The event is set to attract stakeholders from many South East Asian countries as well. The exhibition is supported and endorsed by the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Industry and Commerce.

‘Financial Equality’

NDB Wealth has called upon all women to think on how to gain ‘Financial Equality’ by more effectively planning ways to not only guarantee their own future income, but also to secure a comfortable life for themselves and their families, since women often bear this additional responsibility.

Ms. Christina Wesley, a financial adviser with NDB Wealth said, “Women in Sri Lanka should confront the reality - while they will often live longer than men, with their average life expectancy at 77 years, they are also frequently paid less. The odds are that their work lives will be interrupted by prolonged periods caring for others; their young children and their aging parents. This interrupts their career paths and is one reason why women are more likely to have jobs that offer lower salaries.”

GAC Sri Lanka celebrates 25th anniversary

GAC Sri Lanka, a part of the global shipping, logistics and marine services provider GAC Group, is celebrating 25 years of operations in the country.

Made up of five companies - GAC Shipping Ltd, GAC Marine Services (Pvt) Ltd, GAC Logisitics Ltd, McLarens Shipping Ltd and McOcean Logistics Ltd - GAC Sri Lanka is one of the country’s leaders in the provision of specialised shipping, marine and logistics support services with offices in Colombo, Galle, Trincomalee and Hambantota.

Managing Director, GAC Sri Lanka, Mahesh Kurukulasuriya said the company has always put its customers at the heart of its operations.

“For example, when we pioneered the concept of ship supply services off port limits at Galle in 1994, we eliminated the need for vessels to make a port call, thus helping customers save time and money. GAC also provides ship-to-ship transfer services, using our own equipment and professional mooring masters, providing customers with the highest standards of safety and professionalism,” he said.

“GAC Sri Lanka is as good as its people and we are grateful to all past and present members of our team for their hard work, dedication and ‘can do’ attitude that ensures we deliver the best possible service to all customers. Everything we do is underpinned by our commitment to quality, reliability and total integrated services. It is this commitment that permitted GAC Sri Lanka to handle over 4,000 shipping, marine and logistics jobs in 2015 - a number that is only set to increase,” Kurukulasuriya said.

Axienta launches Big Data solutions

Axienta, a software company leading the market in the rapid development and deployment of mobile enterprise solutions with Hewlett Packard Enterprise and Tableau Software, launched the Big Data Analytics solutions to the Sri Lankan market last week.

CEO, Axienta, Manju Fernando said around 93 percent of executives believe their organisations are losing revenue because they are not leveraging big data.

Big data analytics is examining large data sets containing a variety of data types - big data - to uncover hidden patterns, unknown correlations, market trends, customer preferences and other useful business information.

The analytical findings will lead to more effective marketing, new revenue opportunities, better customer service, improved operational efficiency, competitive advantages over rival organisations and other business benefits.

Maxxis Tyres award ceremony and dealer convention

Maxxis Tyres t3 2015 award ceremony and the dealer convention was held recently at The Kingsbury, with over 275 dealer participatiing. Here the winner, the dealer with the highest performance in 2015 Ravindra Premathilaka of Ravindra Lanka Auto service (Pvt) Ltd. Dehiwala receives the award from Dr. Wally Y H Chen, President Maxxis International. Lenny H K Lee, Maxxis Global Marketing Director and Sunil Fonseka The Managing Director of Tyre House Group look on.

Siddhalepa Sales Representatives receive Gold Awards and a flight to Bangkok

Hettigoda Industries (Pvt) Ltd, the largest Ayurvedic product manufacturer and distributer held its annual sales conference recently at Eagles ’Lake Side. The chief guest Dr. Kishu Gomes delivered a talk on how to overcome the future challenges in sales. Siddhalepa Group Chairman Deshabandu Dr. Victor Hettigoda, Managing director Asoka Hettigoda and the Board of Directors were also present. The best sales achievers of 2015 received gold awards and a tour of Bangkok. Hettigoda Industries (Pvt) Ltd manufactures over 150 items of Ayurveda products and exports to 35 countries.

Wimaladharma Brothers celebrates 80th anniversary

Wimaladharma Brothers celebrated its 80th anniversary recently. Representatives of renowned international brands of time keeping devices including Seiko, Lorus, Oris, Roamer, Orient, Casio, Q & Q, Citizen, Suunto, Rhythm, Hubert Herr, Hermle and Wembly, a well-known brand of wall clocks, setting the bar in their exclusive marketing of time-keeping devices of reputed brands, reiterating the company’s motto, ‘The Time Keepers to the Nation’.